Superposition Coding with Unequal Error Protection for the Uplink of Overloaded DS-CDMA System

The overloaded CDMA schemes exploited in direct sequence CDMA (DS-CDMA) systems are mainly to accommodate a greater number of users than the available spreading factor N. In this paper, a superposition coding CDMA (SPC-CDMA) with unequal error protection (UEP) is proposed as one of the overloaded CDMA schemes for the next generation mobile communication systems. It exploits the available power control in most base stations to adapt the transmitted power of active users in the uplink channel. In this scheme, the active users are divided into G groups and each group consists of K users. The K users share the same spreading sequence and are distinguished by different received power levels. At the receiver side, the system first performs despreading for group detection followed by multiuser receiver to estimate the K user signals in each group. It is shown through simulations that better performance are achieved compared to the conventional DS-CDMA and existing overloaded collaborative spreading CDMA (CS-CDMA) schemes, in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and fading channels. Hence, the proposed scheme maximizes the system capacity K-fold compared to conventional DS-CDMA system without requiring extra spreading codes, with average signal to noise ratio (SNR) cost of only 1dB and 2 dB over AWGN and fading channels respectively at BER of 10^?3. On the other hand, for the same N, K and power constraints, SPC-CDMA scheme achieves twofold increase in data rate with 0.7 and 4 dB gains over AWGN and fading channels respectively, compared with overloaded CS-CDMA scheme in the same system capacity. In addition, the proposed scheme can also attain different levels of UEP for different users?? requirements by adjusting their fractions of transmitted powers.     

An Enhanced A-MSDU Frame Aggregation Scheme for 802.11n Wireless Networks

The main goal of the IEEE 802.11n standard is to achieve a minimum throughput of 100 Mbps at the MAC service access point. This high throughput has been achieved via many enhancements in both the physical and MAC layers. A key enhancement at the MAC layer is frame aggregation in which the timing and headers overheads of the legacy MAC are reduced by aggregating multiple frames into a single large frame before being transmitted. Two aggregation schemes have been defined by the 802.11n standard, aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU) and aggregate MAC protocol data unit (A-MPDU). As a consequence of the aggregation, new aggregation headers are introduced and become parts of the transmitted frame. Even though these headers are small compared to the legacy headers they still have a negative impact on the network performance, especially when aggregating frames of small payload. Moreover, the A-MSDU is highly influenced by the channel condition due mainly to lack of subframes sequence control and retransmission. In this paper, we have proposed an aggregation scheme (mA-MSDU) that reduces the aggregation headers and implements a retransmission control over the individual subframes at the MSDU level. The analysis and simulations results show the significance of the proposed scheme, specifically for applications that have a small frame size such as VoIP.     

Evaluation of shortenings based on various palm oil products

Several formulations based on blends of hydrogenated palm oil (MP 41·5°C) and palm stearin (IV 44) with other liquid oils, on direct blends of palm stearin with other liquid oils, and on 100% inter-esterified palm olein, were used as feedstocks in shortening production. The shortenings were stored at 20°C over a period of one month. Physicochemical characteristics, creaming properties and baking performance of the shortenings were evaluated and compared with the best shortening on the market. Slip melting point of the shortenings ranged from 41·5 to 46·4°C. Palm-cottonseed oil shortenings had higher solid fat contents at all temperatures than palm-soya bean or palm-low erucic acid rapeseed oil shortenings. The shortenings were rich in C₅₀, C₅₂and C₅₄ glycerides. Creaming power after 12 min of beating ranged from 1·55 to 1·77 cm³ g^?1. Palm stearin-cottonseed (3:2) oil shortening showed the best creaming performance. The specific volume of cakes ranged, for the experimental shortening, from 90% to 101% from the control, with low erucic acid-palm blends showing the best performance. In applications for both aerated cream and cakes, inter-esterified palm olein was excellent.     

MHD flow of a micropolar fluid towards a vertical permeable plate with prescribed surface heat flux

The problem of a steady mixed convection stagnation point flow towards a permeable vertical plate with prescribed surface heat flux immersed in an incompressible micropolar fluid is studied numerically. The governing partial differential equations are first transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations using a similarity transformation, before being solved numerically by a finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method and the Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg method with shooting technique. The effects of the material parameter, buoyancy parameter, suction/injection parameter and the Prandtl number on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are discussed. It is found that dual solutions exist for both assisting and opposing flows. The skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number increase in the presence of suction and magnetic field. Moreover, suction as well as fluids with larger Prandtl number widens the range of the buoyancy parameter for which the solution exists.     

Corrosion of high purity Mg, Mg2Zn0.2Mn, ZE41 and AZ91 in Hank’s solution at 37 °C

The CO₂ partial pressure required to maintain a synthetic body fluid (SBF) at a constant pH, based on the initial bicarbonate concentration, was evaluated to be 0.013 atm for Hank’s solution and 0.083 atm for SBF27. Corrosion of high purity Mg and three Mg alloys in Hank’s solution was studied using hydrogen evolution, weight loss and Tafel extrapolation. The solution pH was maintained constant by CO₂. There was initially an incubation period with a low corrosion rate, a period of increasing corrosion rate, and subsequently steady state corrosion. Some hydrogen dissolved in the Mg metal.     

Direct Growth and Photoluminescence of SiO<Subscript>x</Subscript> Nanowires and Aligned Nanocakes by Simple Carbothermal Evaporation

The growth of SiO_x nanowires and nanocakes on an Au-coated n-type-Silicon (100) substrate was achieved via carbothermal evaporation. The effects of the Au layer thickness and the rapid heating rate on the morphology of obtained SiO_x nanowires were investigated. A broad emission band from 290 to 600 nm was observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of these nanowires. There are four PL peaks: one blue emission peak 485 nm (2.56 eV) two green bands centered at 502 nm (2.47 eV) and 524 nm (2.37 eV) for nanocakes and one ultraviolet emission peak at 350 nm (3.54 eV) and a hemisphere curve over the bluish green area taken for SiO_x nanowires. These emissions may be related to the various oxygen defects and twofold coordinated silicon lone pair centers.     

Preparation and characterization of gelatin mediated silver nanoparticles by laser ablation

We successfully prepared colloidal silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) using a nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser, λ = 532 nm, with laser fluence of approximately about 0.6 J/pulse, in an aqueous gelatin solution. The size and optical absorption properties of samples were studied as a function of the laser repetition rates. The results from the UV-vis spectroscopy demonstrated that the mean diameter of Ag-NPs increase with the laser repetition rate increases. The Ag-NPs have mean diameters ranging from approximately 9 nm to 15 nm. Compared with other preparation methods, this work is clean, rapid, and simple to use.     

Hybrid elastomer-nanotube matrix for hydrophobic surface functionalization

Surface functionalization studies for re-creating a ‘Lotus Leaf’ effect (super-hydrophobic) have been carried out for the past few decades, looking for the material which can provide high transparency, low energy surface, and high surface roughness. However, the conventional fabrication processes of super-hydrophobic surface proposed by the previous researchers were reported to be complicated. Therefore, in this research, we had created an alternative ways to produce near-super-hydrophobic surfaces using simplest processing routes with a controlled modification. The fabrication of polydimethylsiloxane/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) hybrid thin film matrix on glass to produce near-super-hydrophobic surfaces is presented in this paper. There are three important parameters studied in producing hydrophobic surfaces based on the hybrid thin films; concentration of polydimethylsiloxane, concentration of MWCNTs, and droplet sizes, respectively. The study is carried out using polydimethylsiloxane of varied cross linker ratio (10:1, 30:1, and 50:1) with MWCNTs concentration of 1, 10, and 15 mg for 0.5, 2.0, 5.0, and 10 μl droplet sizes. The resulting hybrid elastomer-nanotube matrix thin films show that hydrophobicity increased with increasing cross linker ratio and MWCNTs percentage in the polydimethylsiloxane solution. A near-super-hydrophobic surface can be created when using 15 mg of MWCNTs with 50:1 cross linker ratio polydimethylsiloxane thin films, measured on 10 μl droplet size. The hybrid thin films produced can be potentially tailored to the application of biosensors, MEMS, and even commercial devices.     

Effect of partial delignification of kenaf bast fibers for radiation graft copolymerization

Malaysian kenaf bast fiber was treated by acidic chlorite to be applied for a trunk polymer radiation‐induced graft copolymerization. The delignification conditions such as temperature, reaction time, and sodium chlorite (NaClO₂) loading were optimized from the viewpoints of density, tensile strength, and reactivity of grafting. It was found that delignification condition at 80°C for 6 h with 0.5% NaClO₂ gave 91% of lignin removal from the kenaf bast fibers. In this case, the density, fineness, and tensile strength of the kenaf fiber decreased about 46, 44, and 87%, respectively. Reactivity of grafting was evaluated using 4‐chloromethyl styrene to obtain widely available precursor materials. The partial delignified kenaf with residual lignin less than 2% resulted in degree of grafting of 134%, which is enough for precursor materials. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Mild hydrocracking of 1-methyl naphthalene (1-MN) over alumina modified zeolite

The catalytic activity and life of the NiMoS supported on alumina–USY zeolite (physical mixture of alumina and USY (NMAZ), USY zeolite coated with alumina (NMACZ-2)) were compared in the hydrocracking of 1-methyl naphthalene by a single run at the several reaction temperatures between 360 and 400 °C as well as repeated runs at 360 °C. The relative activity of NMAZ is slightly higher after 1 h at all reaction temperatures, but was lower after 2 h at reaction temperatures above 380 °C. The preference of NMACZ-2 became distinct and definite by further increasing the reaction time at all reaction temperatures. Too long reaction time, particularly at higher reaction temperature, decreased the yield of (alkyl)benzenes, indicating the significant progress of the successive reactions. Thus, the highest yield of alkyl(benzenes) of about 97% was obtained over NMACZ-2 after 4 h at 380–390 °C. This was much less than the yield of about 82% obtained over NMAZ after 4 h at 370 °C. Ten repeated runs at 360 °C for 6 h resulted in marked decrease of yield over NMAZ from 73% to 64%, while the decrease in yield over NMACZ-2 was only from about 80% to 78%. The decrease of catalytic activity appears to reflect the coke formation on the USY which occurs on the naked acidic site of the substrate, which are rather isolated from the NiMoS on alumina. In contrast, alumina-coated support keeps USY underneath the alumina, which carries NiMoS and acidic sites on the same surface. The acidity of surface alumina is moderated by the underneath USY. The adequate acidity of the neighboring NiMoS and high hydrogenation activity provide a good balance resulting in an excellent catalytic activity and life of NiMoS supported on alumina-coated USY zeolite.